Earlier this summer we caught wind of a possible Splash remake after Brian Grazer revealed in an interview that he was developing a new version of Ron Howard’s 1984 mermaid rom-com. At the time, he hinted at a new twist on the subject matter and there was some speculation that the new movie would flip the gender roles with the mermaid being a merman instead. This week we can now confirm that is indeed the twist as Disney has announced that they are moving forward with a re-imagining of Splash with Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell in the lead roles. Tatum will take over the role played by Daryl Hannah in the original with Bell standing in for Tom Hanks. Hit the jump for more details.

According to Deadline, Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell are attached to star in a new version of Splash for Disney and Imagine Entertainment. Bell was apparently the driving force behind this new version, although the script is being written by Marja-Lewis Ryan (Liked, Unsupervised). No word on if they are still planning to use elements of the spec script Merman that Universal acquired in 2009 from Jennifer Abu Hollander.

Tatum and Bell have worked together previously on 22 Jump Street and the related viral video “The Dick Graze”. Bell also starred in The Night Before, Goosebumps, Workaholics and co-created the Comedy Central series Idiotsitter, plus she will appear in the upcoming Office Christmas Party. This comes hot on the heels of the recent Ghostbusters reboot, which had great success flipping the script by casting Chris Hemsworth as the hunky receptionist in place of a woman. Are you interested in a Splash remake starring Channing Tatum and Jillian Bell?

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Lori Cerny

Okay, I am so confused. Sean, you sure really put a more editorial spin on this article to help me out.